1908 (pub): The Chonchoñ Woman and her Husband

The following tale was collected from Jose Maria Lonquitue of Pillanlelcun, Chile, and was first published in 1908.

        There was a Mapuche man who had two wives. One night, he was out and his two wives were at home with the children. The child of one of the woman began crying, which woke the other woman up. She called out to the other wife to alert her to the cryting child but, not getting a response, she went to wake her... and found the other wife was missing her head. Worried and frightened, she gathered up the crying child and took care of him. Later, the man arrived home, drunk. She told him that the other wife was missing her head; he got angry and went to bed, but did not sleep. Instead, he waited to see what would happen. Some time before dawn, he heard the sound of a bird flapping at his front door; but the bird did not enter, because of the fire that was still burning in the house. The man doused the fire, and then fearfully went to bed. At dawn, the headless woman -- now no longer headless -- woke with a little whimper. Her face was scratched and bruised. The man decided to never say anything about the matter, for he loved his family and didn't want to disrupt it... so he kept this secret until after the strange wife's death.